S12 E36: Delaware State of the Arts - Newark Symphony Orchestra

Lift the curtain and catch a glimpse into the harmonious world of the Newark Symphony Orchestra. Our guest, Simeone Tartaglione, the orchestra's esteemed music director, offers an enchanting narrative of how the orchestra has woven its magic into the fabric of the local community. Simeone talks about everything from the orchestra's collaborations with local art organizations to their annual youth concerto competition for nurturing budding talent. He also shares heartwarming anecdotes of their holiday concerts that create a bridge of unity among various churches in the region.

We also strike a chord on the orchestra's endeavours to make music accessible to all, including instrument donations and hosting concerts in local parks. Simeone passionately discusses the transformative power of orchestral music, its universal appeal, and the range of emotions it can stir within us. This episode is a symphony of thoughts on the enduring significance of orchestral music, irrespective of whether you're a classical music connoisseur or a beginner. Tune in, and let the music play!

The Delaware Division of the Arts, a branch of the Delaware Department of State, is committed to supporting the arts and cultivating creativity to enhance the quality of life in Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. Learn more at Arts.Delaware.Gov.

Delaware State of the Arts is a weekly podcast that presents interviews with arts organizations and leaders who contribute to the cultural vibrancy of communities throughout Delaware. Delaware State of the Arts is provided as a service of the Division of the Arts, in partnership with NEWSRADIO 1450 WILM and 1410 WDOV.

Transcript

Andy Truscott: 0:09

For Delaware State of the Arts. I'm Andy Truscott. My guest today is Simeone Tartaglione, the music director of the Newark Symphony Orchestra and a faculty member of the Music School of Delaware. The Newark Symphony Orchestra has performed as a community orchestra in Newark, delaware, since its founding in 1966. The orchestra currently includes about 80 performing musicians of all backgrounds who share a love of classical music. The Newark Symphony supports music education and outreach in Northern Delaware and for more than 40 years has held an annual youth concerto competition. The winners in both college and high school age divisions each perform with the orchestra at a spring concert. Simeone, thank you so much for joining me today and, as we kick off, talk to me a little bit about the history of the Newark Symphony Orchestra and how it is that you got involved.

Simeone Tartaglione: 1:05

Hello Andy, hello everybody. It's such a joy to work with the Newark Symphony, really, in many ways maybe the job I'm attached the most, because it was actually my very first job. I got over here in the East Coast right after I graduated from Peabody. I applied and I got this thing and it was such a joy.

Simeone Tartaglione: 1:28

What I think struck me the most about this orchestra is that rarely you find the love of music to be so tangible. We rehearse every week and, as you said, there are musicians of all different parts of life. Some are professional musicians we pay, but a lot of them are volunteers. So musicians who have a college degree, who ended up either being music teachers or do something else that's not related to music, that they finish their hard day at work they rush at their home to eat something and they run to rehearsal to get tortured by me about playing better and do faster or whatever it is, and they do it with a smile.

Simeone Tartaglione: 2:10

So this is something that is so inspiring. To me is really quintessential of what music is about. We are all amateurs because we love music, and to love so much that after a full day of work you just engage in like two hour and a half three hours rehearsal to work hard in something until you go home and you go to bed and you start again next day. It's just remarkable and for me it's an inspiration. I feel Newark Symphony really remind me why I want to be a musician every time I do a rehearsal with them.

Andy Truscott: 2:50

Talk to me about the musical identity of the Newark Symphony Orchestra and what kinds of music or styles audience members can typically expect should they attend a concert by the orchestra.

Simeone Tartaglione: 3:02

Mostly we really do the greatest hits of the classical repertoire. We also do premieres of new piece sometimes and we do some choral music with a certain regularity. We have in the plans to do the Carmina Burana by Horf in a few months, not this season but the next. We're going to do that with Paul Heads of the University of Delaware Choral and we do basically two different orchestra settings. One is the full symphony. That is usually our Sunday concerts where we play all the big Beethoven, brahms in this case, the next concert, prokofiev, rachmaninoff, all the big stuff with the larger orchestra. But we have a season of usually two, three concerts where we do more chamber music, and chamber music also for orchestra.

Simeone Tartaglione: 3:57

So we may do string pieces just for string orchestra, or smaller Mozart, haydn symphonies or straight, you know, like the trout quintet, or pieces that are more chamber music, where our principal get together and they do something like that. We also have a children concert, a family concert, every year that we target a certain kind of audience, of course, in that particular situation, either school children. So we may do, like this year, tabi de Tubbo with the Leipzig, prokofiev, peter and the Wolf and all similar stuff, or we do a little more family concert style. So we do music from movies or like cartoons, that kind of stuff. That is a little light, and we also did some of this outside in the park and so we had a lot of response in that aspect too, because people bring their chairs, they do a little picnic and we fill the loans wherever we are.

Andy Truscott: 4:57

You've been with the orchestra since 2010. Talk to us about how you feel like the orchestra has grown or evolved during that time.

Simeone Tartaglione: 5:06

My goal from the very beginning was to make sure the orchestra was an integral part of the community. So my strategy was really to try to connect, intersect as many art organizations and organizations in general in the community as possible, because I don't believe if an orchestra just does you know, strauss, bruckner, whatever you want to do you know the audience is not going to come just for that. Unless you are a Philadelphia orchestra or you are a New York Philharmonic, an orchestra of any orchestra who is not in that category. Actually it needs to connect with their audience in a way that they need to feel they belong. It's not some ivory tower where people do their stuff and then you don't understand, you feel intimidated, maybe that, oh, I don't have enough cultural classical music, maybe I get bored if I go. So that concept really was something that I didn't believe from the start, and not just with Norse info. That's a concept of the old, traditional way of considering an orchestra. So what I tried to do was every concert we had some, you know, specific connection that could be. For example, I remember one year we did a piece with four high school choirs they, it was the Rutter Gloria, you know, some people may know that piece and we had these four high schools prepared, the choir prepared the piece and then, you know, I did some extra rehearsal with them, you know, before, and then we put all them together and they performed with a full symphony orchestra, something that not always is possible in every high school.

Simeone Tartaglione: 6:48

Another event that really was super successful in bringing us to the community was our Christmas concert a holiday concert, I should say, where we do music of all kinds, of all backgrounds, but what we did was to invite selected members from all the churches of the area to come and become a choir just for that concert. So we ended up with 250 maybe members in the choir singing, of course, pieces that everybody could sing. We didn't do very directly with them with the car rolls and things like that, but they loved it. They prepared well, their music director prepared well at the churches and then they all put together in a rehearsal before the orchestra, and then it was a great success from that point of view as well. We also did several projects with the dance company in the area, like with the Peter and the Wolf, with the Delaware Dance Company, and we did also the Carnival of the Animals, so that it was always the goal is a win-win, so that we reach out to more people in the community.

Simeone Tartaglione: 8:02

But people in the community organization in the community, they can experience something that they cannot do very often, that is, a full orchestra. For example, even we did a couple of pieces with the Bell Squire and now we have actually one in December coming up where two Bell Squires are joining us. They do a piece by themselves and then they do a piece for Bell Squire and orchestra. That is something, again, you cannot do every year. So it's a win-win and a joy to share different sides of making art with people around.

Simeone Tartaglione: 8:38

Another one was when we did Church Windows by Respeakey and we invited several schools to do projects, so to make the windows on their own somehow. So it was an art production that then we exposed at the concerts and it was great. They had a lot of people watching their productions and so on. We have many, but that was my goal and I think that made a difference in the relationship of the orchestra to the community. It's not just a few people who enjoy their evening once in a while, but it's an orchestra that is right there for everybody and we are open to their ideas too. Sometimes they know I'm open to craziness, so they say how about we do that? And then usually I say okay, let's make it happen. I think we can do something that is meaningful and artistic, valid, and it is a little bit unconventional, but let's do it.

Andy Truscott: 9:39

How do you and the orchestra engage with local communities and encourage music education and appreciation from the very young to the very old?

Simeone Tartaglione: 9:50

We have several programs that I think help in that direction. One is, of course they conchance the competition and you know we have a long tradition and a lot of the winners really went up into their game. So every year we have this competition for high schoolers and college and they play usually a full concerto with the orchestra and believe me, we had amazing talent really. The concerto competition is also targeting Delaware and its vicinity very, you know, closely. So in other words, it out limits itself. So people you know from Peabody or from Philadelphia, usually they are not able to apply unless, you know, depends where they live. There is all kinds of limitations. But in other words, we want to get to make an event and an opportunity for the Newark Center and Delaware Center community so that the students in our area get an opportunity and that's why we are targeting them and not necessarily spread out around. So that's one aspect that I'm very proud of because really we engage with extraordinary musicians, young musicians. But other ways that we do is, of course, our children.

Simeone Tartaglione: 11:11

Concerts always are a way to explain aspect of music that not always can be done in their schools. I remember once we did I think it was Peter and the Wolf, but at the end I did a short master class about conducting and we were doing an online client where I explained a few things about balance and notes. But then I called the kids on stage and said who want to try? And we had a line like I don't know, maybe 50 kids. It was a problem. I expect to have like maybe five or six. But after the first five or six tried and they liked it, they smiled. Then they become like almost a problem because we have a line of kids who want to do it. That was great. So they got first hand something that may change their life. I won't be surprised if some kid after that experience would think you know it was fun to be a conductor. Maybe I want to think about doing that as a as I grew up.

Simeone Tartaglione: 12:06

Another program that one of our member designed Laura Rogers in this case is called the instrument in the attics. That is a spectacular program where people donate instruments to us. We put them together, reform, you know, repair what they need, and then we donate to kids who have a need, who cannot afford an instrument, and we donated really hundreds of instruments. We donated ones, a set, I think, of 20 or 30, I don't remember to an organization that helps orphans.

Simeone Tartaglione: 12:44

So they got really a bunch of a lot of instruments and we shipped I think was overseas that one but usually we have this instrument donated at the concert, either to the school, to the teacher or to the, to the students themselves if they ask, and we had really a great portion. We also had some member of the orchestra who donated to the orchestra their violins. Some of these violins are really remarkable value and we also have some high schoolers, for example, play these violins with us and enjoy the violins for their own studies until they graduate. So there is also there a kind of, you know, the joy of experience music with us, but also the benefit of getting a phenomenal violin donated by some members of the orchestra who retired or who died.

Andy Truscott: 13:34

Talk to me about the upcoming performances the orchestra will be hosting this year and maybe which one or two are your favorite.

Simeone Tartaglione: 13:42

Oh, all of them. It's like children, you know. They're all wonderful, each one of them. We opened the season on October 22nd at 8pm. That is something a little bit unusual for us. We had a concert a little earlier, but our soloist is a legend. Somebody who you really don't want to miss is the Jennifer Montone, who is the principal horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra and actually even the same day she's doing another concerto that's why we are a little later than usual and she's playing for us another legendary piece for horn. That is the second Strauss concerto for horn and orchestra and that's it really is a fantastic event for us. We could not have any major any better opening of our season and we are thankful for a large donation that made this possible. And that's one of the beauty and benefit of New Art Symphony the love around of music and musicians is so that we get help from a lot of members in ways that are just remarkable.

Simeone Tartaglione: 14:58

In the same program, besides, there's a phonabolic horn concerto, probably the top of the top of the all the horn solo stuff. We do an overture by Wagner, the Rienzi that is an early Wagner, so somehow there is some Rossini echo or some kind of Verdi echo there. So it's not the Wagner, we know, but it is a very joyful overture in many ways and very approachable. So it's a. It's one of my favorites in some ways and I know that the orchestra loves to play too because it has some direct impact, like not a lot of others you know, of its production. And then we in the second half have a selection of the three suites by Prokofiev the Romeo and Juliet ballet, and that's another super favorite piece. What I tried to do in my selection, I tried to select from the three suites in a way that we have a little bit of all the story. So it's a combination that basically doesn't exist in its own but is a selection that ends with the end of the story and in the middle there is about the most important moments of the of the Romeo and Juliet ballet.

Simeone Tartaglione: 16:24

The next concert in December is we call the Holiday Spectacular and is a great combination of soloists, of choirs, bells, choirs, orchestra favorite Nutcracker, of course, and the Hanukkah overture by Rick one and, you know, some handle from Messiah. So there's just about everything that is connected to a holiday, wonderful time In spring. We do in March the spring symphony by Schumann. I think was appropriate for time and spirit there. And we are gonna have in the March concert our Concerto Competition winner. We don't know what, of course, the competition is in November. So, by the way, if you want to apply for the competition, reach out to us, there is still time to apply.

Simeone Tartaglione: 17:15

And in May, our last symphony concert. We have the Rachmaninoff Second Symphony, which is one of the favorite, plus a Concerto Competition winner as well, and then we will decide if we put an overture or not in the concert. We don't know yet. It depends. If somebody wins with something short, we put an overture, but if somebody wins with Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, then probably we won't recommend it long enough.

Simeone Tartaglione: 17:43

Our chamber series, professor Chris Nichols from University of Delaware playing the Mozart Clarinet Concerto, and we are gonna do their Mozart Symphony number 25. Then in February we are gonna have our newer symphony choir, because among the many things that Newark does, we also have a choir, the newer symphony choir, and they are gonna sing with us. Of course, in December with other choirs. We have several choirs in December from several high schools and then we are gonna do a piece for Choir and Orchestra, the record from the leaving, and we're gonna have a Marianne Mayer as a harp soloist with the Ducie Dances. And the last thing to mention is the children concert that this time is gonna be Tabi de Tuba, with Brian Cox from Salisiano being our soloist, who then will perform at the Newark Charter School.

Andy Truscott: 18:44

In your view, what is the enduring power and relevance of orchestral music?

Simeone Tartaglione: 18:49

There is a misconception that to enjoy classical music you need to have some kind of training, or that to enjoy an orchestra concert you need to know more about orchestral or classical music. And it's a misconception because there is really no need. I always remember my grandmother expedience, my grandmother, in Italy. She was not able to write or read, so she was completely illiterate. Still, she went to the opera to see the opera, the concert every week that was their. Instead of go to the movies, they went to the opera and to the theater to do concerts. And she understood that she didn't need to read the plot or read books to get the feelings from the orchestra, from the singers, from the conductor. And when I listened to that experience, I have the proof that and I had the proof in many of my experience. When I bring an orchestra to a community that never had one, as long you approach and you communicate with the audience, you explain, maybe from the stage, a little bit what's happening and you play thinking the feelings that are behind the notes, because you can do the most polished performance, but if you really don't give a message, you are not convinced that there is a message of feelings, of humanity from the score to the audience, then it's a boring, deadly performance.

Simeone Tartaglione: 20:25

But a lot of concerts I've done, for example in the park, with people coming from all over. At the end of the concert I had people coming. You know it's my very first concert I ever attended of an orchestra. I didn't think I could like so much. I may go back and come back to see you.

Simeone Tartaglione: 20:40

So in this aspect I think Newark is very important in our mission because we try to reach out to all segments of the communities and especially when I think there is an area that could be not as close to us, the more I want to reach to them and connect and let them understand and let them feel and experience how an orchestra concert is just as effective as a pop concert. Beethoven was pop music in some ways. You know there were fights in Italy between different operatic composers, like there were pop stars, so nothing really changed the difference. Maybe that of course a piece in classical music lasts a little more than three minutes. But there is so much variety, so much things inside a movement of a symphony that as long as you open your heart you're going to get it, and so the feeling of not belonging it really doesn't apply to classical music.

Andy Truscott: 21:44

To me, Oney, thank you so much for joining me today. To learn more about the Newark Symphony Orchestra, visit their website at NewarkSymphonyorg.